In the Mind's Eye: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Evolution of Human Cognition

by April Nowell (Editor)

Overview

The last decade has witnessed a sophistication and proliferation in the number of studies focused on the evolution of human cognition, reflecting a renewed interest in the evolution of the human mind in anthropology and in many other disciplines. The complexity and enormity of this topic requires the coordinated efforts of many researchers. This volume brings together the disciplines of palaeontology, psychology, anatomy, and primatology. Together, they address a number of issues, including the evolution of sex differences in spatial cognition, the role of archaeology in the cognitive sciences, the relationships between brain size, cranial reorganization and hominid cognition, and the role of language and information processing in human evolution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781879621305
Publisher:	Berghahn Books
Publication date:	01/01/2001
Series:	International Monographs in Prehistory: Archaeological Series , #13
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.02(h) x (d)

About the Author

April Nowell is Professor and Chair of Anthropology at University of Victoria. She holds a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors

Forward
Philip Tobias

Acknowledgments

Introduction
April Nowell

PART I: ARCHAEOLOGY AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

Chapter 1. The Role of Archaeology in Cognitive Science
Thomas Wynn

Chapter 2. The Re-Emergence of Cognitive Archaeology
April Nowell

PART II: ON THE GROUND: INTERPRETING MATERIAL AND NON-MATERIAL ARTIFACTS

Chapter 3. Memories out of Mind: The archaeology of the oldest memory systems
Francesco d’Errico

Chapter 4. A Pragmatic View of the Emergence of Paleolithic Symbol Using
Martin Byers

Chapter 5. Nonmaterial Artifacts: A Distributed Approach to Mind
Shirley Strum and Deborah Forster

PART III: PALEONEUROLOGY

Chapter 6. Archaeological Implications of Paleoneurology
Harry J. Jerison

Chapter 7. Intellectual Surplusage: The Role of Bipedalism
Sean C. Hogan and Gordon G. Gallup, Jr.

Chapter 8. Before or After the Split? Hominoid Brain Structures and the Evolution of the Human Mind
Katerina Semendeferi

PART IV: INFORMATION PROCESSING IN HUMAN EVOLUTION

Chapter 9. Multilevel Information Processing, Archaeology and Evolution
Philip Chase

Chapter 10. Behavioral Response to Variable Pleistocene Landscapes
Richard Potts

Chapter 11. The Fossil Evidence for the Evolution of Human Intelligence in Pleistocene Homo
Anne Weaver, Trenton W. Holliday, Christopher B. Ruff and Erik Trinkaus

PART V: A FINAL WORD: THE ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE

Chapter 12. On the Neural Bases of Spoken Language
Philip Lieberman

Chapter 13. Discovering the Symbolic Potential of Communicative Signs—The Origins of Speaking a Language.
William Noble and Iain Davidson

Editorial Reviews

.... a valuable collection of articles, especially for students and those new to the study of cognitive evolution. I found it both stimulating and enjoyable to read.'
' ... this is a volume with an impressive list of contributors most of whom provide succinct summaries of longer and more detailed studies they have previously published as books or as journal articles. It is useful to have these gathered together in a volume that integrates studies of the fossil and archaeological records very effectively.'

Cambridge Archaeological Journal - Steven Mithen

An assumption—the techniques and symbols explicit and implicit in the archaeological record are directly related to the cognitive abilities, mental competence, and intelligence of evolving human beings—underlies the effort to relate the findings and interpretations of archaeology to the evolution of the mind that anthropologists undertake here. Not content with the archeological record alone, they also cite evidence from the brains of modern humans and non-human primates to cast light on those of remote ancestors. No index is provided. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)